Rutgers University president says recession will not affect school's ambitions

NEW BRUNSWICK -- In a sweeping address to Rutgers University students, employees and alumni today, university President Richard McCormick delivered a firm promise: the recession has not — and will not — tame the institution’s far-reaching ambitions.

The 50-minute speech, aimed at an audience of 500 in the Rutgers Student Center in New Brunswick and hundreds of others watching on television, acknowledged the global economic crisis has squeezed Rutgers. But the university has maximized revenue and smartly tightened its belt, McCormick argued, clearing the way for continued expansion.

Amanda Brown/The Star-LedgerRutgers President Richard L. McCormick delivers his seventh Annual Address to the University Community today.Ama

"Some people have suggested that Rutgers needs a radically different business plan in order to respond to changing realities," McCormick said. "Although it may surprise you to hear this, I do not agree with that."

McCormick began his annual remarks by describing a bleak new financial world inhabited by higher education centers across the nation. Trenton now pays 40 percent of Rutgers’ bill for students’ educations, he said, down from 70 percent in the 1990s. And much of the public, he said, has stopped backing significant subsidies.

While he did not quantify the historical fallout of those cuts — which have included years of steep tuition hikes and course cutbacks — McCormick noted a 20 percent increase in financial aid requests this year, as well as a surge of room cancellations by students whose families cannot afford room and board.

"At Rutgers, the questions we face are very serious," McCormick said. "Some employees have been laid off. We are getting by in many units only because the staff members who remain are working harder than ever."

McCormick outlined the university’s response to the squeeze, one that centers on deans and other leaders maximizing revenue through new programs — chief among them executive and continuous education, as well as online courses.

"Revenue from online and off-campus courses increased last year to $20.5 million, and we are only now emerging from infancy in those areas," he said. "We believe that in five years, revenues from such programs will grow more than threefold to $65 million."

The president also boasted about traditional measures of fiscal well-being remaining strong during tough times. Rutgers faculty attracted $391 million in support for research, up 21 percent from last year, he said. And total donations rose to $128.6 million, an increase of 6 percent over the previous year.

As a consequence of both hunting new revenues and saving millions of dollars a year on efficiencies — such as a solar farm helping power one campus — the university has added 100 courses and 100 new faculty, modest but encouraging bumps, McCormick said. Rutgers also plans aggressive construction, including re-shaping the Livingston campus with 1,500 students, a business school building and hotel and conference center.

While the university has charted a course out of budget woes that circumvents dramatic change, the president did leave the door open for reform. He said Rutgers should evaluate structural changes that have been proposed across the U.S., such as three-year degrees, eliminating certain units or modifying tenure rules.

After the speech, McCormick said he doesn’t yet have any specific proposals, adding that he is a proponent of tenure. "I said that because I wanted to get people’s attention," he said.

Meanwhile, his seven-year-old tradition of giving a universitywide speech continues to get the attention of the public. McCormick fielded more than 15 questions from audience members, who pressed him on a wide range of issues — from renaming New Jersey Hall after famous alumnus Milton Friedman to producing promotional materials in other languages. The most popular line of questioning: recruiting and offering services to veterans.